Address Biting

Puppies may bite for several reasons including that they are teething or for attention or in play. If your puppy is teething you can give him a dish of ice cubes, a beef or venison bone (not chicken or pork bones) or rub his gums with Baby Numz It.​If he is playing with you like he would with his littermates I would still not allow any serious biting. Look at the Ian Dunbar information below as a good friend who has a top agility poodle in the country and has done much training really like his methods, also Susan Garrett's.

You can try any of the following and I would go from mildest to sternest as needed but you must be in charge. Do discipline with kindness but also be firm.

Disengage- Let the puppy know that biting you will not get you to play with him.

Although the kennel is generally a safe haven and not used for discipline you can in this instance use it for a brief time out. ​

Advice from Friend/ Top U.S. Agility Poodle Owner Expert on Training is Given Below. They have an excellently trained performance poodle.

Yelp like one of the puppies in the litter would do if another pup played or bit too hard. Gradually, yelp or I don't agree on saying "no" as any language other than the dog language is not understood by the dog and it's not fair to ask for his/her comprehension. Besides, NO is not instructive. It is saying "not that" but then "what is the proper action," that is, you have to steer the dog into doing something which is advisable. Therefore, say the dog is chewing on you, then I recommend a few online articles by the reknowned trainer Ian Dunbar but offering a proper alternative behavior is the first option. That is, offer something the dog can enjoy and chew which is not destructive to the house or the owner.

Also scolding (punishment) is over-rated. Because if you want to stop the dog (or people for that matter) from doing something, then you have to be consistent each time the dog is biting/chewing then to correct it. But what if you miss once because you were too late or whatever. Here the training value declines tremendously. Dog training is black and white and not fuzzy grey, like sometimes you can do it OK and some other times it is NOT. It's too confusing for the dog. He/she is learning to live in YOUR world trying to learn YOUR language, with the meal and care dependent on YOU... You as the owner want to be a fair leader to the dog. Yelling, shouting doesn't make a good leader.

Biting inhibition should be one of the 1st if not 2nd (where the house breaking maybe the 1st) thing to train for any new puppy.

The above may have some overlaps but each is a precious message worth reading carefully. You don't want to raise a puppy who cowers because the owner is angry uttering something they do not understand. You want to raise a puppy who will choose (on his/her own volition) to do the things you'd like him/her to do. Teething time as you may know in babies is a hard/feverish time.

After reading the articles, if you want more, then Google "how to deal with puppy chewing" or "Ian Dunbar puppy biting." If the puppy is chewing up your finger or ankle, you do need to address it beyond just a passing teething time. You cannot ignore it. ​ Say Ow! with even a softer bite.